The tale of the quickly vanishing family owned media company

It was a bit of a nostalgic week for me on a couple fronts. First off on Tuesday, I celebrated my one  year anniversary in my current role with my current organization. Then on Wednesday, it was announced that the first newspaper I worked for full time was sold. Both events caused me to reflect.

The very first newspaper I worked for full time was the Greenfield (Indiana) Daily Reporter, owned by the Brown family and Home News Enterprises for over 100 years. Their headquarters, and frankly the main focus of their company was the newspaper in nearby Columbus, Indiana. But still, it was very obvious that this was a family business. Profits were important but being active and contributing members to the community were highly valued as well. As a result, Greenfield, Columbus and the other communities that HNE operated in benefited. http://www.therepublic.com/view/local_story/The-Republic-other-HNE-propert_1446645932

The community that is the newspaper industry also benefited from HNE. They encouraged active participation in industry groups, like state and local press association. Because they cared about more than the bottom-line, their employees, their industry and their communities were all better as a result.

As I said, Tuesday marked my one year anniversary at my current position. Federated Media is also a family owned operation. The Dille family in Northern Indiana, like the Brown family in Central and Southern Indiana have operated their business for generations. The same traits that I respected in how HNE operates are very evident with my current employer. Profits are important, but being a good corporate citizen is a driving force of the organization.

Federated is a radio focused company today, though its roots are in the newspaper business. The newspaper that I work at is their only newspaper in the organization today. Federated and HNE have adapted to the changing tides of media in this digital era. Both would say that they are communications / multi-media companies today with a focus on audience no matter what the platform. But any media company can say that.

I would suggest that what sets them apart is that they would say that they are an employee focused company that finds ways to connect the community with advertisers. That connection with the employees and the community is what makes family owned media companies unique.

The new owners of HNE say that they will remain strong in the community. I truly hope that is the case; for the community and the employees. Big corporations in the media business is far from new, and their are some good corporations out there running TV, radio and newspapers. But more often, the bottom-line wins out, people get forgotten, corporate citizenship is lost and the product suffers.